On the Design and Monitoring of a Master Production Scheduling Function in a Manufacturing Resource Planning Environment

Abstract

During the last decade, the theory and practice of production control have strongly developed under the influence of the availability of high speed computers, on the one hand, and Material Requirement Planning (MRP) as a planning tool for complex product structures, on the other hand. The use of computerized MRP techniques in the late sixties and early seventies triggered a process of reconsidering the structure of the production control system in an organization. This process, which is greatly supported by the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS), resulted the definition of an integrated set of basic production control functions and their mutual relationships. Elements in this structure are functions like demand management, production planning, resource planning, inventory control, final assembly scheduling, master production scheduling, material requirements planning, capacity requirements planning, input-output control and shopfloor control. The key element in this structure of production control functions is the Master Production Scheduling function (MPS). Figure 1, taken from Berry et al., 1979, shows that part of the control structure that is directly related to the MPS function. According to the APICS definition, the MPS is defined as follows